Click here for a photo gallery.

KASSON — The ninth time was a charm for the Vikings.

After missing four go-ahead field goal attempts and four game-tying free throw attempts in the last two minutes, it was freshman Cole Kruger who lifted Hayfield to victory when he banked in contested a buzzer beating three pointer from the wing to give Hayfield a 44-42 win over No. 2 Kasson/Mantorville in the Section 2AA South boys basketball semifinals Thursday.

“I kept saying that we’ve got to make one play on both ends of the floor, but I would rather have had it happen before the buzzer,” Hayfield head coach Chris Pack said. “It wasn’t the shot we wanted, but at that point your not going to a great shot, it’s going to be contested no matter what. Thank God that the bank’s open late in Kasson.”

Kruger, who was the third option on the last play, caught the ball with 3.8 seconds left, dribbled up the court and had to force a shot as time expired. Immediately after the shot went in Hayfield’s crowd stormed the court and surronded the freshman point guard, who hit just a handful of threes on the season.

“(The pressure) kind of hit me a little bit because they were way up on me,” Kruger, who had 13 points, five rebounds, and two assists said. “I was just trying to get it in, whatever could beat the buzzer. Then the crowd stormed the floor and I didn’t know what just happened.”

While Hayfield (17-10 overall) missed some key shots down the stretch, the Komets (19-8 overall) also had some shortcomings as they missed two front ends of one-and-ones in the last 35 seconds. K/M’s Alex Eck missed the last free throw with 5.8 seconds left.

Kruger said he had a good idea of what was going to happen next.

“When they were shooting free throws, I kind of played what would happen on the next play in my head, and it (happened) basically like I thought it would and it luckily went in,” he said.

Hayfield was able to stay in the game because it held Eck, a 6-5 physical center to just 12 points after he had his way against the Vikings in two regular season wins. Hayfield sophomore Brady Kramer, a 6-1 forward, held his own while matching up on Eck in the paint.

“I knew his moves and I knew what he could do,” Kramer said of Eck. “He can jump and he’s strong, so I knew I just had to play for rebounds because I couldn’t really block his shot. We wanted to limit their put-back points.”

Eck had just four points and three rebounds in the first half as Hayfield ran out to a 33-24 lead after Tyler Krekling, who scored all 14 of his points in the first half, banked in a three at the first half buzzer.

K/M eventually got its offense going as it ran off 10 straight points to take a 40-37 lead with 4:23 left in the game. The score was low because Hayfield spent a good portion of the first half playing a little stall ball.

“Looking back maybe it was a stupid thing to do and I’m sure some of the fans wondered what the heck I was doing,” Pack said. “(Running clock) was kind of my plan going in, but I didn’t count on doing it that early. I know how good a team they are and how tough they are inside, eventually you knew they were going to establish themselves.”

Things weren’t looking good down the stretch for Hayfield as Bobbie Stephens missed a baseline three and a pair of free throws and Krekling missed a pair of free throws as well. Pack said that both Stephens and Krekling shoot over 70 percent on their career from the line.

Kruger made the memory of those misses go away quick and Kramer had a great view of the last shot.

“I saw it go up and I saw that it was long. When it hit the board, I was like ‘Oh my,’” Kramer said of Kruger’s last shot. “(Bobbie and Tyler) were thanking everyone in the locker room and hugging Cole for being clutch when they weren’t clutch on free throws.”

Hayfield will take on No. 1 seeded Maple River (22-5 overall) at Minnesota State University in Mankato Monday at 6 p.m.

Hayfield 33 11 — 44

K/M 24 20 — 42

Hayfield scoring: Tyler Krekling, 14; Cole Kruger, 13; Brady Kramer, 7; Tyler Anderson, 4; Dillon Wagner, 3; Bobbie Stephens, 3; free throws: 14 percent (1-for-7); rebounds: 20 (Kramer, 5; Kruger, 5); turnovers: 11

K/M scoring: Alex Eck, 12; Griffin Reed, 9; Jake Hodge, 7; Grant Starkey, 5; Nate Bauer, 5; David Kraft, 2; Jeremy Gabrielson, 2; free throws: 43 percent (6-for-14); rebounds: 21 (Eck, 10); turnovers: 13